Chandigarh: Ahead of a court verdict on 25 August in a rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Haryana government on Sunday said the police was on alert and 35 companies of paramilitary forces would help maintain law and order in the state.

File image of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

"Police is fully prepared to tackle any situation. The Centre has provided 35 companies of paramilitary forces, deployment of which has already started," Director General of Police BS Sandhu said in Chandigarh.

The focus would be on Sirsa, Fatehabad and Panchkula districts, where paramilitary forces would be deployed in strength, an official statement quoted the DGP as saying.

Orders to prohibit carrying of firearms and other weapons and assembly of five or more persons have been issued in Hisar and Fatehabad as a precautionary measure.

Social media activities are under close watch, the DGP said and added that law and order will be maintained with public assistance and cooperation from authorities in Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

The rape case against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been heard by a Special Central Bureau of Investigation court in adjoining Panchkula in Haryana. The case hearing has been going on since 2007.

The sect chief, who has lakhs of followers in Punjab, Haryana, and other states, has been accused by a former female follower of raping her more than once inside the sprawling Dera campus on the outskirts of Sirsa town in Haryana, 260 km from Chandigarh.

Sandhu said efforts were on to coordinate with dera followers through talks and their cooperation sought through meetings.